Korean Central News Agency

Top North Korean officials vowed to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they called their country's first, and failed, launch last month "the most serious" shortcoming this year and harshly criticized those responsible, state media reported Monday.

A military spy satellite launched by North Korea earlier in the day crashed into the Yellow Sea owing to an engine problem and it plans to carry out its second launch "as soon as possible," reported Yonhap News Agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for countering the U.S. and South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported Wednesday.

North Korea said Friday it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led two days of military drills "simulating a nuclear counterattack", including the launch of a ballistic missile, state media reported Monday.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries launched their biggest joint military exercises in years Monday, as North Korea said it tested submarine-launched cruise missiles in an apparent protest of the drills it views as an invasion rehearsal.

In an apparent protest over a regular South Korea-US combined military exercise to begin this week, North Korea fired two "strategic cruise missiles" from a submarine in waters off its east coast over the weekend, state media said on Monday, reported Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea's recent barrage of missile launches were tests of its tactical nuclear weapons to "hit and wipe out" potential South Korean and U.S. targets, state media reported Monday, as its leader Kim Jong Un signaled he would conduct more provocative tests.

North Korea has passed a law declaring its readiness to launch preventive nuclear strikes, including in the face of conventional attacks, state media said on Sept. 9. 

The move effectively eliminates the possibility of denuclearisation talks, with leader Kim Jong Un saying the country's status as a nuclear state was now "irreversible".